I See Fire
by A Secretly Sincere Lioness 13
Summary: That beautiful yet deadly flower that blooms in her heart, that beautiful flower that kills all fear, that beautiful flower will at last bloom in that deadly array of splendid fire.
1. Chapter 1

_The sun shone bleakly as a ginger pelt slipped through the wood._

_He silently walked past Ivypool, who was guarding the camp._

_"Firestar!" She yelped, spinning around and watching the former leader slip into camp._

_He walked past his former Clanmates, towards the medicine den.  
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_His tail brushed the ground slightly as he disappeared inside the cave._

_"That isn't like him..." Cloudtail whispered. "He'd never walk like that...with his head down and tail dragging."_

_And then, everyone heard it. Everyone in all the Clans._

_A voice-no, four voices echoed throughout early evening Clan life._

_"When you fall, four shall survive. You will fall, to maintain Bramblestar's legacy. You will fall, even if it means the code is destroyed to keep your shameless fear alive with your hopeless existence. StarClan is fading. Please. Help us. That fragment of the Stars you saw is merely...his first life. Sacrificed to bring down what would have surely destroyed you."_

_A ginger tom with amber eyes and white paws appeared in the midst of camp._

_Squirrelflight took a step back in shock._

_He looked up at her, and said, seemingly to her._

_"The Dark Forest will triumph. Their law will rule this world."  
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_Squirrelflight looked up at Thunderstar, who looked so like her that all of her Clanmates were shocked to see their resemblance._

_"Then let me take it upon myself to defy it."_


	2. I will always be with you

That day, Bramblestar was found dead beside the lake. His jaws were open in a silent scream, forever unheard. A wound from his neck to his belly was the only mark on him.

Sandstorm recognized it as the blow Scourge had used to fell Tigerstar.

Nine lives left, and he died like his father.

Squirrelflight trembled as she approached the moonpool.

Falling asleep, she reflected on how WindClan could easily sneak up and kill them.

When she opened her eyes, she was in a forest clearing. Cicadas chirped in the woods around her. The sandy ground was peppered with pawprints.

"Dustpelt, where are..." she almost asked her mentor where he was. Then she realized where she was, and why she was there.

Instead of Dustpelt, a brown she-cat appeared in a ripple of sunlight.

Before Squirrelflight could even say anything, the she-cat began to speak.

"I give you Wind."

A ginger-and-white tom appeared as the she-cat faded.

"I give you Thunder."

A black she-cat appeared.

'I give you Shadow."

A gray tom appeared.

"I give you sky."

And last of all, a silver tom appeared.

"I give you River."

Then the flickering ranks of StarClan appeared around her.

"We give you Stars."

Emotion flickered through Squirrelflight's mind-fear, love, anguish, anger, friendship, pity-too much to process.

And then she felt every sense sharpen. She could see every blade of grass. Hear every whisper of wind. Smell every smell in the forest. Feel...feel the sand below her in so much detail.

"Thank you," She said quietly. "Thank you."

And then a lone voice rang out as the Stars shivered, sighing and laying down, waiting to die once more.

"My daughter, Squirrelstar. Fire's kin alone will struggle for what is already lost. But still...that does not need...to be strictly followed. It is like the Warrior Code. It can, and will be broken."

Squirrelstar's eyes jerked open.

_"I will always be with you, my dear, dear, daughter."_


	3. Oh, I'm sure you know

That horrible first quarter-moon of her leadership, and the Clan hated her.

Three lives from the Clan. Three lives from her. One, single, lonely, huge battle.

Her kits, now apprentices, yawned politely at Hollyclaw as she went on and on about her namesake.

Squirrelstar struggled to accept the truth. Her eyes were almost exactly like the forest around them-bleak.

Her Clan ignored her as she walked through the shadowed camp. The world seemed grayer. The sky was dull. Everything was dusty. Her eyes were still bright...but the emotion in them...was bleak.

But somehow, she didn't give up.

Squirrelstar stepped out of camp.

Everything seemed cold. Foreign. The usual beautiful green of the forest seemed to be covered in a fine layer of cold, gray dust. Exactly like the mountains.

No...

The mountains were beautiful. Full of life. Was she the only one who saw that?

Her eyes weren't open as much as they usually were.

As she neared the border, she started seeing less wreckage and more beauty.

The destruction from the flood seemed to scream at her, 'You could have done more, you could have fought harder'.

But still...thorns seemed to be the only things intact.

"Hey, Squirrelstar."

She turned around to see Lionblaze staring at her angrily.

"Squirrelstar, how come you made Ivypool deputy? She's a traitor. Still. Bramblestar was a better leader than you, by far," He sneered.

"I don't know. Maybe because she was willing to sacrifice her life before she became a warrior?"

Lionblaze snarled back at her, "Yeah, or maybe you just like her better."

Squirrelstar sighed.

"Don't you know how painful this is for me? I hate that I'm powerless."

"You've changed."

Squirrelstar looked over her shoulder at the new voice.

Graystripe emerged from the bushes.

"You used to be a boisterous little she cat-always up for trouble. Now, you're just like Firestar was in times of hardship. When he lost someone. Sandstorm told me this is how he acted after I was captured."

Squirrelstar looked up at the sky as Lionblaze backed away a bit.

"You're right."

Squirrelstar turned around, walking past Graystripe, then stopped just past him.

"If we don't fight, the Clan's can't win."

Graystripe spun around.

"Against what?"

Squirrelstar turned her head.

"Oh, I'm sure you know. It's deep within us. The instinct to shy away from danger. Well, the first danger is coming back, I'm guessing. I'm trying to figure out what it is."


	4. Something to Fight For

"Keep going, weaklings!"

The force of cats, all colors, collars, skinny, rough-furred, sleek, lovely, ugly, all led by a lonely black-and-white she-cat and a reddish tom

The she-cat in front narrowed her eyes.

"Hey, Ares, you think we should stop soon?"

Ares snorted. "Athena, if ya think I'm stopping, then I'm a blade of grass."

The two lonely siblings, silently and swiftly, led the mass of cats forward.

Athena looked up at the sky as she ran, silently wishing she could find something, someone, anyone, to fight for.

Squirrelstar stared up at the twilight sky.

Everything had seemed too perfect for the last moon. Everything had gone too well.

There was something in the air. Something that lurked unseen, just out her vision.

She spun around.

Nothing.

She slowly made her way back to camp, constantly checking to see if she could smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Squirrelstar, you have a knack for making it back just before sun-down!" Spiderleg called from the elders' den.

Squirrelstar glanced around, then returned to the entrance of camp.

"Squirrelstar?"

Ivypool looked at her. She was on guard.

"Tonight, we guard together."

Suddenly, she heard it.

The sound of a quiet mew-too far away for her to distinguish what was being said, but close enough to know.

Athena looked over at her brother, who was smirking.

"Looks like there's some prey. Two at least."

Squirrelstar looked up as a reddish tom leaped at her.

A black-and-white she-cat didn't move from her place in the bushes.

"Get away!" Squirelstar shrieked, viciously attacking the tom.

"Rogues! ThunderClan warriors, to me!" She yowled over her shoulder.

Athena's eyes widened.

_Something to fight for._

The two she-cats fought like wolves.

"Blood, to me!" Ares yowled as a dozen cats rushed from the hollow.

_Something to live for._

Athena leaped forward, dragging her brother back.

Suddenly, she realized that she didn't fight brutally like her brother.

No...she tricked them into death.

She wasn't meant for being a rogue, was she?

_Someone to fight for..._


End file.
